Hello Juan, look at this. The gear is old but the position is the same: back leg in extension, front leg bent, body forward, arms back. Also you will notice the sail upright and the front foot ahead of the strap to keep the board flat on water across the chops. He was going upwind and faster than the other guy behind.

5th November 2008 05:51 AM

willy

Farlo, agree 100% with you, planing well powered up closing the gap, body forward and arms back and you'll see how you get a lot of upwind with speed.

5th November 2008 01:10 AM

Farlo

You can stay forward while keeping pressure on the fin. Once you've found the right settings of the boom/lines bending the front leg will move your body forward and close the angle between sail and board. This will increase pressure on the back automatically. Again you need to be well powered (or a bit more) with fin big enough.

4th November 2008 07:26 PM

juan1

many times I doubt if its better to stay raked back whith presure on the fin and railed , so going upwind whith speed trying to fly on the fin or stay forward pushing down the boom and get better angle...but whith lower speed

4th November 2008 03:52 PM

mim

body position...

principialy it's right, but...

putting your body extremely forward leads to decrease the pressure on the fin (the direction in which your leg is pressing the fin). This decreases the effectivity of the fin and the going upwind will not be so good and you loose a lot of your speed too.

I also like more when the sail is more upright, to allow this you have to strech your legs (more weight on the back one), keep the upper part of your body firm and the necessary weight you have to put on your boom set by putting your bottom lower.

PS: the weight forward is correct. Just do not do it in an extreme way or you loose a lot of speed and fin pressure as well.

Body position for going up wind: rake the sail, close the gap and most important try to get you upper body forward that means almost your head ahaead of the mast, of course feet in straps. Looks difficult but works. In other words, all the body forward but both arms raking the sail. Hope this helps.

4th November 2008 01:04 AM

juan1

did you find that isonics traks better upwind than other slalomboards? or the general setup is what makes the diference?
what about body position , raket back and railing or to the front?
regards juan1

3rd November 2008 11:46 PM

mim

just a small note...

from my own experince:
A lot overpowered helps not...if you have to open the sail to hold the windstregth it will not be easy to go upwind at all.

To me the best setup is:
sail to be a little more than well powered when completely sheeted in, fin big enough (to me 2 cm bigger than smaller is always better), and definetely the straps in outer position.

The mast foot in front helps but I don't like on my boards.
It also depends how you put your weighth into the sail (try to bend in your weist till you find out the optimum angle between body and legs for going upwind).

It takes some time till you figure it out...
Ciao M.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------www.soulrider.com

3rd November 2008 11:24 PM

Farlo

Hi Juan, overpowering might not be the ultimate secret but underpowering is definitely not good. A well powered sail with a small fin does better than an unpowered sail with a big fin. Of course the fin shall not be too small. My own findings are that the length in dm shall not be much smaller than half the surface in sqm. For instance I use a 43 cm fin with a 7.3 sqm sail on a 103 L / 64 cm wide board in light conditions (12/15 Knts). In stronger wind (15/18 Knts) I just flatten the sail, put a 36 cm fin and it goes upwind as well. At a steady18 Knts I will then change the sail to a 6.5 or 6 sqm and keep the same fin till ~20/22 Knts, then go for a 32 cm fin. Mastfoot in the front will help the rail to bite and compensate for a curved fin, but you need to have some volume in the middle. Rear straps outside helps a lot just by making it easier to balance the sail pressure. Long lines and/or low boom do not prevent me from pointing up provided that there is enough wind. Hope this helps...

3rd November 2008 10:39 PM

juan1

best upwind?

hello
what will be the best way to sail upwind on a slalom board ?
lets say a 105 ltrs 65 wide,38 fin as an example on a 6,7 sail for a given wind.
is it better to try hold a 7,2 whith bigger fin?
are you gaining upwind by beeing overpowered?
mastfoot to the front or back?
harnes lines short or long?
I will lioke to read as much tips as possible
regard juan1